John Byl 1 chapter Valuing Wellness. Learning Objectives Understand a biblical view of the human body. Explain your view of the human body. Begin to think.

John Byl

1chapter

Valuing Wellness

Learning Objectives

• Understand a biblical view of the human body.

• Explain your view of the human body.• Begin to think about how you should view

and treat your body.

Do You Love Your Body?

Creation

• Genesis 1 and 2• Two lessons

– God created all things (Psalm 33:9; 11:3; 147:15-20; 2 Peter 3:5-7).

– God created all things “very good” (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

• Creation is personal.

Image

• We do not reflect the image; we are the image—like father, like son; like mother, like daughter.

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Image (continued)

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Image (continued)

• Scripture on image– “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in

his one likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3).

– “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

• Humans are just below God, “crowned with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5).

Two Aspects of Being in “Image”

• Cultivators and creators—unlike Greek gods– Genesis 1—God created the Garden of Eden to let

Adam and Eve create.– Exodus 20—six work days in caring for creation,

including the body; one rest day

• Live in relationship– God is triune— “not good to be alone”

(Genesis 2:18)

Fall

• One person’s sin affects us all (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Genesis 4:8; Romans 5:12).

• The fall is a universal and pervasive disposition for people to turn their backs on God.

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Fall (continued)

• Man and woman experienced a broken relationship with creation after their fall.– More difficulty working the ground (Genesis 3:17-19)– Broken relationships (closed, ashamed, quick to

blame)– Creation itself experienced the fall (Romans 8:22;

Jeremiah 12:4,11).

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Fall (continued)

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Seven deadly sins take away from a healthy life.

Seven Deadly Sins and Their Physical Effects

Pride

Pride is about putting “me” in the center of the universe. A self-serving spirit does not grow health. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Envy

Envy is to resent someone else’s goods so much as to be tempted to destroy it or steal it from them (Proverbs 14:30).

Anger

Anger is to allow contempt for another to rule (Proverbs 27:4).

Laziness and Apathy

Laziness is about dreaming and not doing (Proverbs 13:4).

Greed and Materialism

• Greed wants the best and will do anything to get it.

• “Whoever trusts in his riches will fall” (Proverbs 11:28).

Gluttony

• The glutton thinks only about food.• “. . . their God is their stomach. . .

(Philippians 3:19).”

Misguided, Sinful, Sexual, and Other Desires

• Lustful obsession continually craves for pleasure.

• “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:19).

Redemption

• “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

• “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

• “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:19-20).

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Redemption (continued)

• Redemption is Christ’s payment for our sinfulness. Christ’s work of redemption calls us to make all things new, to make things as they were—“very good.”

Opposite of Envy

Peace is the opposite of envy: “Peace gives life to the body” (Proverbs 14:30).

Opposite of Anger

Instead of injury through furious, irrational anger, people can experience healing through gentle, irrational forgiveness— “forgiving our debts and we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12; also Ephesians 4:32).

Opposite of Laziness

Proverbs 13:4 gives an alternative to laziness: “The desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.”

Opposite of Greed

• Instead of putting their greedy trust in self-serving riches, Christians should live simply so all may simply live.

• “God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Jesus Christ” (Philippians 4:19).

Opposite of Gluttony

Scripture teaches that instead of being captive to food, Christians need to “eagerly await a Savior from [Heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21).

Opposite of Lust

Scripture provides an alternative to lust: “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God” (Romans 6:13).

Created and Renewing Creation

• Fallen, but still created in God’s image– Deuteronomy 32:6– Revelation 4:11

• God wants to renew creation through his people:– Christ's ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)– Rulers of God’s creation (Psalm 8:6)– Preachers to every inch and centimeter of the world

(Mark 16:15)

Spiritual Acts of Worship Are Physical

• “…offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1).

• “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

Jesus’ Messianic Claim Based on the Physical (Matthew 11:4-5)

• What does it mean to be holy? (Leviticus 19:2;11:44; 20:7)– Not eating old meat (Leviticus 19)– Not eating swarming things (Leviticus 11)– Not hurting or killing children (Leviticus 20:1-7)

• Worshipping in the temple– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Kings 6-7– 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

God’s Providence

• God gives (Matthew 6:31-33).• God nourishes (Psalm 104:14-15).• Providence is God’s loving care and protection.• God’s concern for the body is also demonstrated

through his acts of healing.– Matthew 4:23; 8:16; 9:35; 10:8; 21:14; 12:22; Luke 22:51;

Exodus 15:26 – “This healing was the sign of the reconciling and victorious

Kingdom which in Him and with Him came to be” (Berkhouwer, 1962, p.230).

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God’s Providence (continued)

• God’s concern is also noted in laws to protect life. He commands: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

• Why?• “For in the image of God has God made

man” (Genesis 9:6).

How Then Shall We Live?

• Enjoyment—1 Timothy 6:17• Abundant living—John 10:10• Good health—3 John 2

Fulfillment

• “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).

• Fulfillment is God’s honoring his promise that all things will be made new, and there will be an eternal “new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 1:1).

• New heaven and new earth—a prepared place—John 14:1-3

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Fulfillment (continued)

• Resurrection– Apostles’ Creed– 1 Corinthians 15:51-58– Jesus ate—Luke 24:37-42– Jesus was seen resurrecting—Luke 24:37-42

• Importance of Jesus’ resurrection—1 Corinthians 15:16-19.

• What Christians are being resurrected to—Isaiah 65:17; see also 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:4; Zechariah 8:5

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Fulfillment (continued)

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Do You Want to Offer Spiritual Worship?

“Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1).

Application Questions

• 1. How do you like yourself—all your parts?• 2. How do you honor God with all of you,

particularly with your physical body?• 3. If you’re a Christian, how do you hope to please

and enjoy God when you pass on to the new heaven and new earth? Are you already doing some of that today?

• 4. Based on your answers to the previous three questions, do you need to make changes in your views of what it means to be a person and of who you are?